actually buy a house so my mother can have a home to own, instead of continuing to rent

move to NYC and buy a cosy brownstone in Midtown Manhattan

get either a cat or a Great Dane

travel a bit

split the money in half and put into trusts; one for my mother, one for myself

Well, that’s a pretty short list, when you look at it! I’ve been thinking about this for some time, what I would do had I either won or inherited $1 billion dollars overnight. That’s really all I would do with it, aside from treating myself and my mother from time to time.

I ranted a while back on how I felt people weren’t really being honest about what they’d do with their winnings, had they come across such a large windfall. I feel people are gonna do what they want with their money, but there are people who are worried about being too honest, for it’ll make them look bad, unable to manage money. Which isn’t necessarily true.

Yeah, people are going to go buckwild with that kind of money; not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth. And when you think about it, no one wants to be told what to do with their money, so they come up with a plan for the event they do get a windfall. While there’s nothing wrong with having a plan (it’s practicality), it’s THEIR MONEY, and they can do what they want with it as they please. Those of us who don’t have that kind of money have no say as to what they do with it.

Alas, if someone asked me that question, I’d simply say, “I wouldn’t tell a soul.” Which is true, because once people find out you’ve got a massive amount of money and seemingly unlimited funds, they slither into your life, whether you know them or not. Not to sound paranoid, but we’ve all seen cases where people have won the lottery or inherited fortunes, only to have people come out of the woodwork, asking for their slice of their pie. They’ll make suggestions, “You should invest in my company” or “I could use some of that money to pay the mortgage/bills/Jenny’s college tuition, etc.”

Then again, the decision to give the money to whoever they want for whatever reason is at their discretion, and it would be at my discretion to keep my wallet closed unless I felt someone could use some of it.

UGH… why must money make life so complicated when it’s supposed to make it a bit more convenient?!